Selig back in Milwaukee, waits for better weather

[October 29, 2008]  PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Bud Selig didn't stick around.

The baseball commissioner returned to Milwaukee to wait out the weather and a chance to resume Game 5 of the World Series.

A day after the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays were stopped because of rain with the score 2-all after 5 1/2 innings, Selig rescheduled the completion of the suspended game for 8:37 p.m. Wednesday.

"Right now the forecast is somewhat problematic," Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said Tuesday. "The rain is supposed to go through earlier in the day. It is supposed to be cold and windy, but not as cold and not as windy as today. The commissioner is going to honor it on an hourly basis."

DuPuy convened a noon meeting of Major League Baseball staff at a Philadelphia hotel, and the group decided not to attempt to play Tuesday night. DuPuy then headed home to New York.

DuPuy said he will talk with MLB officials in Philadelphia during the morning Wednesday and head back around noon.

"We'll see what it looks like," he said.

On Monday night Selig said fans and the teams would be given plenty of notice, but wouldn't be specific.

"There's no fixed time," DuPuy said. "It's whenever the commissioner decides it's either playable or not playable."

The National Weather Service forecast called for rain, possible snow showers and a wind advisory for Tuesday night and said it will be partly cloudy Wednesday night with low temperatures in the mid-30s and the wind diminishing.

DuPuy wasn't worried about drainage at Citizens Bank Park, which opened four years ago.

"The field is great. They can get the field ready very quickly, as they showed Saturday," he said.

Although a final decision had not been made, baseball officials said there most likely would not be a travel day if the Rays win. That means if there isn't another delay, Game 6 would be Thursday night at Tropicana Field and Game 7 would be Friday night.

While Phillies players got to stay at home, the Rays had checked out of their Philadelphia hotel Monday and wound up at the 97-year-old Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, Del. While some players spent the day at the hotel, others went to a mall.

"What's there to do in Delaware?" reliever J.P. Howell said. "We're nervous to go outside. This isn't our territory."

Whenever the Series resumes, Fox will be ready -- even if the national television audience is not.

Monday night's telecast received an 8.2 rating and 12 share, Fox said Tuesday. The previous low for a fifth game was a 10.0/17 for the San Francisco Giants' 16-4 romp over the Anaheim Angels in 2002.

Nielsen will issue a separate rating for the completion of Game 5, according to Fox.

Thus far, the World Series has received an 8.1/14, down 24 percent from the 10.6/18 for a four-game sweep by the Boston Red Sox over the Colorado Rockies last year. This year is 20 percent behind the current record low for a full World Series, the 10.1/17 for the St. Louis Cardinals' five-game victory over the Detroit Tigers in 2006.

The rating increased from a 6.5/10 at 8:30 p.m. and was at its highest, 10.4/16, when the game was stopped.

With the Phillies trying to close out their first title since 1980, the game drew a 45.2/60 in Philadelphia. The rating in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market was 28.1/40.

[Associated Press; By RONALD BLUM]

AP Sports Writer Fred Goodall in Wilmington, Del., contributed to this report.

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